For those of who may not know the lovely Shelby Walsh, she is President at TrendHunter and soaks up trends for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had a chance to catch up with her and her team at the Front End of Innovation Toronto and Consumer Insights Canada event last week.
Here's what she told us:
How did you find the experience at FEI Toronto & Consumer Insights Canada?
The experience at FEI Toronto was fantastic. The breadth of sessions everyone had to choose from was incredible -- from the Internet of things, to the mind/body connection and authenticity.
On top of the takeaways from all of the sessions, there was an impressive array of individuals in attendance, which made breakfast, lunch and networking breaks all of the more interesting.
Can you share the biggest takeaway from your Trendhunter partner and fiancee, Jeremy Gutsche's talk?
The biggest takeaway from Jeremy's Better & Faster talk was that we need to focus on overcoming the psychological traps that are blocking successful people everywhere from realizing their potential.
We need to awaken our "inner hunter" and instead of "farming," creating only incremental change, we need to be open to destroying in order to create breakthrough innovation.
Jeremy's keynote was very personal and touched on drawing inspiration from his dad and how he proposed to you, as a social media strategist I know there can sometimes be a fine line between what you share and what you keep private. I understand the video he shared is up on YouTube, can you tell us a bit about the proposal, the video and sharing it online.
I personally never share anything that could put me in an unprofessional light or is negative about other individual or brands. Social media is supposed to be a great way for people to connect with others and a lot of times, celebrate the most interesting parts of our lives.
I didn't hesitate to share our engagement video to over 20,000 of our closest friends because the way Jeremy proposed was creative and very Trend Hunter-esque. It was an authentic expression of who we are and a touching moment that we wanted to share with others who've felt the same or hope to one day!
We had planned a field trip to tour your Trendhunter headquarters but received such an overwhelming response, we decided it made more sense to open it up to everyone and do a cocktail mixer instead. Can you tell us a bit about the research you shared during the tour and gives a bit of insight into how your office environment inspires your innovative culture?
Trend Hunter had a blast hosting a cocktail mixer for FEI! Our office space lends it well to the creative environment we have, as well as events like this! People loved our bar complete with Trend Hunter marquee lights, our London telephone booth and our open-concept, brick and beam space.
It's a great environment to let ideas flow!
The 4 key trends discussed during our Trends in 2015 presentation include:
Beacon - This burgeoning technology has been utilized by those on the cutting edge in the art, retail and charity worlds. The next generation of these location-responsive devices will make communicating with consumers even more customized, interactive and ultimately, effective.
Makeshift Luxury - Retailers are turning to pop-up events that are super lavish. These temporary luxe shops and consumer experiences are the next evolution in brand marketing that's more experimental and temporary.
Meta-Marketing - Millennials are approaching peak purchasing power, and marketers are keen to capture their attention by creating ads about ads that self-mock and have a focus on being authentic.
Flavor Reversal - Bacon beer cupcakes and avocado donuts are just a couple of examples of how sweet and savory are being experimented with creatively to create buzz and appeal.
We're looking forward to joining you, Jeremy, and the rest of the Trendhunter Team at The Market Research Event stateside in Boca Raton. Fl. Later this month. Can you give us a little preview into what we can expect?
We work with brands creating custom monthly reports to help identify consumer needs and track emerging market trends. These reports are based off of a 100,000,000 person virtual focus group and over 2 billion views of data. For those attending TMRE, we're offering some reports on the house, so make sure to find us at the event!
Just as exciting, there has been a lot of talk recently about Oculus Rift -- a platform that allows for one to experience augmented reality like never before and other cutting edge virtual reality applications that tap into 3D gaming, simulations, and rich immersive experiences. Now, I can't give away what Trend Hunter will be doing, but I can tell you that it will be an experience you don't want to miss out on...
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Formerly a senior copy editor at Thomson Reuters, a research editor at AOL, and a senior web publicist at Hachette Book Group, Valerie M. Russo is editor at large of The Front End of Innovation Blog, The Market Research Event Blog, The World Future Trends Tumblr, the Digital Impact Blog, and also blogs at Literanista.net. She is the innovation lead and senior social media strategist for the Marketing and Business Strategy Division of the Institute for International Research, an Informa LLC., and her poetry was published in Regrets Only on sale at the MOMA Gift Shop. Her background is in Anthropology and English Literature. You can reach her at vrusso@iirusa.com or @Literanista.